Really Tony? You couldn't have found a more circumspect analogy?

[ashling]

What am I saying?

Writing for the minority, Scalia was joined by three liberal justices. But his 11-minute oral statement - a departure from the usual practice in which only the majority opinion is read aloud - was classic Scalia. It relied on his "originalist" interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and employed forceful rhetoric as clever as it was heated. He declared that the majority's rationale "taxes the credulity of the credulous." An adroit writer, he sprinkled in words from decidedly non-legal contexts, such as "hash" and "genuflecting" and mixed in references to American revolutionary Patrick Henry and the biblical Leviathan.

The latter came at a moment of high drama in the white marble courtroom when Scalia concluded: "It may be wise, as the court obviously believes, to make the Leviathan all-seeing, so that he may protect us all the better. But the proud men who wrote the charter of our liberties would not have been so eager to open their mouths for royal inspection. I dissent."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/03/antonin-scalia-dna_n_3380259.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037


It occurs to me that some of those proud men who wrote "the charter of our liberties" were at the same time regularly opening and inspecting the mouths of black slaves."

Tony's concept of "liberty" is insightful. Next he'll be telling me (like one of my students did) that the Constitution was Divinely Inspired.

[former9thward]

1. WTF are you talking about?

I feel sorry for your "students".

[malokvale77]

2. His students are lucky to have him.

[ashling]

3. Inspecting

the teeth and gums of blacks on the slave block

by "proud men" who would not open their mouths for "royal inspection."

This "charter of our liberties"they wrote guaranteed the this practice could continue for a good while longer.

[former9thward]

6. I know the good is always the enemy of the perfect.

And people love to be perfectionists especially in hindsight.

[Eric J in MN]

4. Scalia was probably referring to getting one's inner-cheek swabbed for a DNA sample

He wasn't making an analogy.

[ashling]

7. He was comparing persons that will be affected

by this ruling . . . to "proud" slaveholders.


a·nal·o·gy
[uh-nal-uh-jee] Show IPA
noun, plural a·nal·o·gies.
1. a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based: the analogy between the heart and a pump.
2. similarity or comparability: I see no analogy between your problem and mine.


I'm just saying that when you start in with the lofty rhetoric and flowery praise for the people who framed our "charter of liberties" let's not forget who they were. Their idea of liberty bears a closer look.

[GeorgeGist]

5. Harvard produces some real crap ...